Races & Rides

Herman and Martin lead elite effort at BMX World Championships

David Herman (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Free Agent-Rockstar) and Arielle Martin (Spanaway Wash./Intense BMX) led the American effort at the 2012 UCI BMX World Championships with fifth and fourth place efforts in their respective elite main events. Felicia Stancil (Lake Villa, Ill./Factory GT), Maliek Byndloss (Cape Coral, Fla./Ssquared-Answer-Troy Lee) and Danielle George (Palmdale, Calif./Supercross BMX) delivered the only championship (supercross) class medals of the day for the U.S. team in the juniors divisions.

In the elite men’s division Herman led the United States team on Saturday with a fifth-place result. Donny Robinson (Napa, Calif./Hyper Bikes) joined Herman in the eight-man final, finishing just behind in sixth. The American pair finished just off the pace of the elite men’s winner, Australian Sam Willoughby, who took home his first world title.

The Americans put on a dominating performance early with seven elite men advancing to the semifinals, nearly half of the remaining 16-man field. Only Herman and Robinson however were able to make it past the one-shot semis and into the finals by finishing amongst the top four of their respective eight-man-heats.

After just missing out on the Olymipc Games in 2008 Martin unofficially punched her ticket to London after her fourth-place finish.

In the elite women’s final, Martin was the top American finisher in fourth place after the only other American woman to make the eight-woman final, Alise Post (Saint Cloud, Minn./Redline), suffered an untimely crash and finished eighth. Frenchwomen Magalie Porrier (FRA) and Eva Ailloud (FRA) finished first and second.

Based on its performance in Birmingham, the U.S. is expected to retain its top three ranking in both the elite men’s and women’s BMX when the UCI releases its official standings next week. This would keep the U.S. on track to send the maximum of three men and two women to London for this summer’s Olympic Games.

Per USA Cycling's Athlete Selection Procedures for the 2012 Olympic Games Herman and Martin will be automatically nominated to represent the United States in BMX cycling in London as the top ranked athletes in the USA Cycling BMX Power Rankings at the conclusion of the world championships.

“This day four years ago was not a good day for me, so coming into this race I had a lot of nerves and a lot of pressure. I have a great crew supporting me who told me I was the last person who needed to believe in myself because they all believed in me,” shared Martin, who missed out on the 2008 Olympic Games by the narrowest of margins after an untimely crash. “A lot of preparation came into play and I came through today. Once that first gate dropped I was in the zone and I knew that I was going.”

Also on Saturday, the U.S. turned in strong performances in the junior championship categories as yesterday’s time trial superfinal winner Felicia Stancil (Lake Villa, Ill./Factory GT) earned the world title in the junior women’s division with compatriot Danielle George (Palmdale, Calif./Supercross BMX) who scored the bronze. Maliek Byndloss (Cape Coral, Fla./Ssquared-Answer-Troy Lee) added to the American medal haul with a second place result in the junior men’s event.

“I had a great gate, started coming over and I couldn’t come over anymore,” explained Byndloss. “I did what I had to do and ended up in second.”

A wrap-up of the event will be aired on the Universal Sports Network on June 18 at 5 p.m. E.T.

A promising sign for the future of the U.S. team, Collin Hudson (Longmont, Colo.) and Carlie Ferree (Quartz Hill, Calif.) also added challenge class world titles in the 15 boys and 16 girls divisions for the U.S. on Saturday.

For the U.S. men's field, the next major competition will be the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on June 16 in Chula Vista, Calif. where the winner will earn an automatic nomination to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.

David Herman unofficially won USA Cycling's BMX Power rankings with his fifth-place finish and grabbed the first automatic nomination to the Olympic Games.

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